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Nepad: Questions of ownershipMustapha Kamel Al‐Sayyid

a

aProfessor of Poli t ical Science and Director of the Centre for t he Study of Developing

Countr ies, Cairo University

Available online: 11 Nov 2009

To cite t his art icle: Mustapha Kamel Al‐Sayyid (2004): Nepad: Questions of ownership, South African Journal of Internation

Affairs, 11:1, 121-127

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121

Nepad: Questions of Ownership

Mustapha Kamel Al-Sayyid*

The New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) is still in its

early stages of implementation. Enthusiasm for the implementa-

tion of the programme has been demonstrated by a number of

African countries, not only the five who sponsored Nepad from the

beginning — South A frica, Nigeria, Senegal, Algeria and Egypt — but

also the 16 countries which have agreed to be part of its boldest and

most innovative component, the African Peer Review Mechanism

(APRM).

However, the majority of African governments have no t agreed to be

part of the APRM and many African scholars are sceptical about

Nepad's prospects of success. Arab social scientists are among those

who have expressed such scepticism, with some o f them going as far

as to claim that N epad is only an African version o f the conditionali-

ty required by international financial institutions and aid donors to dis-

burse limited flows of aid.

The success o f the programme undoubtedly depends on the support it

gets primarily from African peoples and governments. It is true that sup-

port by the international community is an indispensable condition for its

success, but such support is also a function of what African countries

themselves do to promote a favourable environment for development.

The question therefore is how to harness support by African peoples and

governments for the goals and activities envisioned by Nepad. In this

respect, it is surprising that while some African governments show such

enthusiasm for Nepad, the general public in many African countries is

unaware of the initiative. The media in general hardly mentions it.

*MUSTAPHAKAMEL AL-SAYYID is Professor of Political Science and D irecto r o f the

Centre for the Study of Developing Countries at Cairo University.

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122 South African Journal of International Affairs

Under these conditions, it is unlikely that African governments would be

able to mobilise resources to attain Nepad's goals. Their choice is to try

to support Nepad in the face of indifferent and sceptical public opinion ,

or make a sustained effort to gain the hearts and minds of their people.

The latter approach is essential in order to mobilise a substantial part of

Africa's public and private resources for the success of Nepad.

Nepad and African social scientists

Nepad was a major theme of a conference organised in 2003 by the

Council for the Development of Social Science in Africa (Codesria),

headquartered in Senegal. The conference brought together hun-

dreds of African social scientists, those working in Africa as well as

those from the Diaspora in North America and W estern Europe. Few

of those who . presented papers or took part in discussions in the con-

ference, held in Uganda, had praise for Nep ad.

Ownership of the programme was a controversial issue, with many

participants claiming that Nepad was simply the same old ideas of the

Washington Consensus presented to Africa by African leaders who

had become converts to the neo-liberal philosophy of international

financial institutions and aid donors. They felt all the talk about good

governance, transparency and accountability had been heard before

and had been rejected by critics of these institutions as terms of polit-

ical conditionality that would be raised only^when countries' foreign

or domestic policies did not appeal to the industrialised countries

which controlled such institutions and who were also the major aid

donors. They pointed out that aid would not be withheld in the case

of African governments whose domestic and foreign policies

appealed to aid donors, no matter how far they were from standards

of good governance, accountability and transparency. The partici-

pants were also sceptical about the willingness of aid donors and

international financial institutions to provide Africa with the largeexternal resources required for the implementation of Nepad's ambi-

tious projects in infrastructure, agriculture and industry.

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Al-Sayyid: Questions of Ownership 123

One cannot accuse those social scientists of being ill informed about

Nepad or be ing hostile to Africa's development. The question of own -

ership is a real one, and the experience of the past two years has

demonstrated that the high expectations concerning future flows of

external resources to the continent are not likely to be fulfilled, at

least in the near future. The support for Nepad by African social sci-

entists is necessary as they are the ones who are expected to take

part in designing and even carrying out some Nepad projects. They

are also the ones who help to mould the m inds of Africa's youth and

many of them are leading opinion-makers in their ow n countries.

A dialogue is the best way to get their buy in to the programm e. This

could be led by the Nepad Secretariat. Such dialogue could be organ-

ised primarily at national and sub-regional levels on the continent.

Opinions could converge on the necessity of democracy and good

governance in Africa. It is highly unlikely that African social scientists

wo uld be opposed to these principles. They are only opposed to their

arbitrary use by aid donors in order to punish some African countries

and reward others depending on those countries' support for the for-

eign policies of the aid donors irrespective of the domestic reco rd o f

the countries in question. Moreover, African scholars would not be

opposed to the projects envisaged by Nepad for the economic and

social development of Africa. If external resources are not forthcom-

ing, or are not coming in sufficient amounts, it is the du ty of the con-tinent's best minds to show the way for the.most effective mobilisa-

tion of Africa' s resources for the benefit of its own developm ent.

Nepad and African civil society

Support of civil society for Nepad is required for two reasons. The

development of a fully fledged civil society is one of the goals of

Nepad, which stresses the importance of democratic consolidation

on the continent. The active participation of the society is necessary

for the success of several Nepad initiatives, not only the APRM.

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Activation of civil society in favour of Nepad is inconceivable if civil

society organisations are not properly informed about the initiative.

The role of the media is therefore crucial in increasing awareness

abou t Nepad in all African countries and in offering a public space for

debating the best conditions for its success. In order to stimulate bet-

ter coverage of Nepad, the relationship between the Nepad

Secretariat and the African media needs to be strengthened . The elec-

tronic revolution in communications, particularly e-mail, makes such

contact and distribution of information an easy matter. In conjunction

with ministries of information and foreign affairs, brainstorming ses-

sions about the challenges facing Nepad could be organised, and,

budgets allowing, members of the media, particularly the electronic

media, could be invited to the Secretariat to exchange views w ith sec-

toral experts and other key people.

Specific civil society organisations have been called upon to play a

role in implementing Nepad's initiatives, particularly in the areas of

human rights, and being a watchdog on government and business.

They are also expected to play an important part in the operation of

all the phases of the APRM . They can play a role in helping the Nep ad

Secretariat in selecting the most qualified experts to serve in the

examination of the reports presented by the governments involved in

the process and provide the experts to help with evaluations. When

the report of the APR Secretariat is published, these organisationsshould help to disseminate it. Finally, they should be consulted about

the kind of measures that the APR Secretariat would recommend, if

it deems that the a dop tion of such, measures is unavoidable.

Given the fact that on ly 16 countries so far have agreed to adhere vol-

untarily to the Peer Review Mechanism, civil society organisations

should lobby their governments to agree to join the APRM initiative,

if they have not done so, and to poin t ou t to the advantages of agree-

ing to be part of the process.

Given the crucial importance of the role such civil society organisa-

tions could play in making Nepad a success, the Nepad Secretariat,

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together with the African Commission for Peoples' and Human

Rights, should n ot spare any effort in persuading African governments

to lift restrictions on the work of civil society organisations and to

grant them the autonom y they require in order to carry out their func-

tions properly. It is a well-known fact that respect for human rightsand freedom of association is far from ideal in many countries across

Africa. Such a situation w ill not help in the realisation of the lofty goals

of Nepad, nor of ensuring good conditions for its functioning.

Finally, the contribution of African business to the success of Nepad

cannot be exaggerated. The implementation of the economic com po-

nents of Nepad depends very much on the private sector in Africa. The

seventh chapter o f Nepad's core document stresses the importance of

the private sector as the key to the success of econom ic developm ent.

Mobilisation of resources from the private sector in Africa and facilitat-

ing its growth should be a priority for African governments and of the

relevant institutions of Nepad. One way to ensure participation of the

private sector in implementing Nepad's projects is to make African

businessmen aware of what Nepad stands for.

Meetings with business organisations at the sub-regional and nation-

al levels could be one forum for introducing Nepad to them. Some

initiatives have been taken in this respect in both East and West

Africa. More meetings cou ld be convened in these two regions to fol-

low up on the understandings reached in previous gatherings. No

such meetings have been held'so far with business groups in North

Africa, although private firms in the region, particularly in Egypt and

Morocco , are interested in establishing ties w ith their counterparts in

other regions of Africa. Business groups are relatively well organised

in m ost African countries either in chambers of com me rce, industrial-

ists' unions or investors' societies. Bringing them together to debate

the prospects for Nepad's economic strategy would be a step to-

wards integrating them into the implementation process.

Rhetoric would not be sufficient to persuade businessmen to engage

their firms-in such process. The call by N epad for the removal of bar-

Volume 1 h Issue1, Summer/Autumn 2004






riers to private sector growth in Africa and for the removal of barriers

against intra-African trade is definitely encouraging, but it might not

be sufficient, particularly if governments do not act timeously.

Nepad's Implementation Committee should consider the possibility

of earmarking a large pa rt of the foreign aid that Africa gets from the

international community for specific projects to be carried out by the

African private sector.'

Role of governments

W hile the involvem ent o f all components of civil society is crucial for

the successful implementation of Nepad's projects, African govern-

ments need to lead the way. They must provide the framewo rk for

releasing the energies of civil society organisations and create afavourable environment for the growth of the public sector. They

must also carry out their commitments under Nepad at both the

regional and national levels. The success of Nepad depends on the

establishment o f peace and security on the continent, on dem ocratic

consolidation in countries which are in the process of transition to

democracy, and on getting countries still run by authoritarian regimes

to embark on the road to dem ocracy.

Governments should also contribute to the increased awareness of

Nepad through the electronic media, largely controlled by govern-ments in most African countries, and by taking the initiative of con-

vening meetings to bring together academics, civil society organisa-

tions and business people to discuss the programme and its imple-

mentation.

Finally, and this is by no means the least important point, govern-

ments need to ensure that development strategies in each country

are guided by the concept of human development. This wo uld go a

long way in achieving Nepad's goals, including attracting foreign part-

ners, private and public, bilateral and multilateral, to participate effec-tively in the de velopm ent of the continen t. Successes of some African

Volume 11, Issue 1, Summ er/Autumn 2004






countries in this respect, such as Mauritius and Botswana, could be

examples for African countries to follow.

Endnotes

1 See many of the critical reflections on Nepad in the site of Inter-Church Coalition on

Africa, http://www.web.net/-iccaf/debtsap/nepad.htm

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